'Deskfast' ousts bacon and eggs

The traditional breakfast at home is being replaced by "deskfast" in front of a computer as workers rush to the office without eating the most important meal of the day, according to research today.

The average Briton skipped 113 breakfasts last year, more than the French (77), Germans (72), Italians (41) and Spanish (31), the study by Datamonitor, the independent market analysts, found.

Eight in 10 of missed British breakfasts were during the week when adults, and increasingly schoolchildren, claimed not to have enough time to eat at home.

Daniel Bone, a consumer analyst, who wrote the report, said: "The problem for many is the day-to-day pressure of working life that makes people feel as though they can't spare the time for breakfast. Young children's eating habits are following their parents with many arriving at school having not eaten."

Breakfast is not the only casualty of Britain's high pressure working culture. The report also found workers are abandoning the traditional lunch hour in favour of desk dining.